Many Americans enjoy spending time with nature, and one popular activity is feeding wild birds. As many as 53 million Americans feed birds as a hobby each year. One of them is Sumner Askin, from Arlington, Virginia. His interest started a few years ago, when he was in college and studying wildlife science. I had just taken this class, ornithology, the study of birds, and I was just super into it. And originally I got one feeder and I put it all the way up in this tree, I probably climbed like 30 feet so I could hang it right outside my window. And I got some cool stuff and I just wanted to keep going with it, see what else I could get. His plan was successful, and many wild birds visited his bird feeder. He recalls seeing downy woodpeckers, northern cardinals, mourning doves, and other birds. Askin says you can learn a lot from bird watching.